Hello all and welcome back to The Stone Soup Cook–so glad you’re here!
Today, I’m continuing my salute to the perfect late spring dinner party.
The trick to any dinner party is to make sure that the food is delicious, but not too fussy or complicated. When the food gets to be too high maintenance is when a host stops being able to enjoy the party. This menu accomplishes that to a tee–most of the food is either able to be prepared ahead of time, or is quick and easy to prepare while chatting with guests in the kitchen–and I don’t know about your parties, but my parties almost always end up in the kitchen!
I shared the asparagus and the hasselback potato recipes in my last post. The asparagus are easy to trim and wash prior to guests arriving and the hasselback potatoes can be prepared ahead of the party and popped into the oven 10-15 minutes before guests start arriving–they’ll be done by the time you want to serve dinner. The summer fruit salad is super easy to put together during the party and the cobbler can be prepared just before guests arrive and taken out during the party, so it’s still just warm when dessert rolls around.
The steaks are really the only thing that will have to be “managed” during the party. And they’re super easy. My favorite way to prepare a steak is marinate them with lime juice and plenty of salt. I take my steaks out of the fridge about an hour before I want to cook them so I can take the chill off them. I marinate them on one side for about 30 minutes, turn them and marinate on the other side for about 30 minutes. As for grilling them…well–everyone has their favorite way of grilling. I like to grill my steaks for about 8 minutes, turning them every two minutes and then letting them rest for about 5 minutes. But it all depends on the thickness of the steak.
This gorgeous summer fruit salad takes minutes to prepare and is always a show-stopper!:
The cherry cobbler is super simple to make and put into the oven just before guests arrive:
So here’s a quick and dirty run-down on how to pace yourself:
Prep day of:
Hasselback potatoes (prep and wrap in aluminum foil and store in fridge until about 2 hours before you want to serve them. Let potatoes sit at room temperature for 20-30 minutes to take the chill of them and then pop them in the oven until you’re ready to serve. Potatoes can take the heat and leaving them in a few minutes past “done” won’t be a problem if necessary).
Asparagus: wash and trim and store in the fridge until ready to cook while the steaks are resting.
Summer fruit salad: Make vinaigrette early in the day or even the day before. Rinse and pit the cherries and rinse the blueberries shortly before guests arrive and store in an air-tight container in the fridge until you get the steaks on the grill. While the steaks are grilling, cut the cucumbers, crumble the feta and pecans and put everything over top of fresh greens and put aside. Don’t dress until just before serving, else those gorgeous greens will get limp.
Cherry cobbler: get it in the oven just before guests arrive and remember to put a timer on it so you can take it out while guests are there–and trust me on this one–it’s always a crowd-pleaser to pull that bad boy out of the oven!!
I hope you make and enjoy this late-spring menu as much as I do–tune in next week for more fun in my Stone Soup kitchen!
Until then,
Peace, love and good food,
Keri
